They posed for photos, clutching the coveted Bronze Baby Trophy, their smiles never-ending.

The three-time CIS champion Windsor Lancers were back in town and awash in glory.

Coach Chantal Vallee, as is her custom, sought to deflect all the praise toward her players.

"At the end of the day, these players are the ones bringing us to the summit," Vallee said. "They are the ones making us win."

That's true, but so is this - without Vallee in charge, turning a moribund, lost-in-the-wilderness program into the perennial queens of Canadian university women's basketball, not many of those players would be Lancers.

They are the first to admit that reality.

"I think it has a lot to do with her, the way she pushes us in practice," fifth-year guard Laura Mullins said.

"Her whole mentality about bringing us together and what she does on an off the court for us that nobody sees.

"She has a huge effect on our performance."

Mullins remembered her last year of high school ball with the St. Anne Saints, weighing her options as to where she'd play university basketball.

Based on the track record of the Lancers, Mullins doubted she'd be staying home.

Vallee changed her mind. "I remember she really wanted me to come and I was a little iffy," Mullins admitted.

"What she said to me brought me into the program. I couldn't say no to her.

"She sold me just by her words.

"She was just driven. She knew she was going to turn the program around. She told me we were going to win it all one day and that's what she's done, so I guess she was right."

Lancers forward Jessica Clemencon, the CIS player of the year in 2010-11, planned to leave her native France on a one-year program as a foreign exchange student.

Four years later, she remains in Windsor, and acknowledges the main reason for that is Vallee.

"She played a really big role," Clemencon said.

"The program wasn't that successful and if she didn't have that big vision, I don't think I would still be here today.

"I could see that the program was coming from far away and was getting to the top. That was a big factor for me."

Asked to cite some adjectives that would best describe Vallee, Clemencon doesn't take long to come up with a couple.

"Determination and craziness," she said.

Don't worry. It's the good kind of crazy.

The never-ending attention to detail, the non-stop work ethic in the gym and on the recruiting trail that not only has put Windsor on top, it's kept the Lancers there.

"There's three important roles I have as coach," Vallee explained. "The first one is recruiting the players. Second is coaching them, making sure that we have offences that fit and players that fit.

"And third is mental, making sure they are ready to go and peak at the right time."

She's been the one constant from the start of this Lancer turnaround and Vallee has kept them motivated and absent of complacency along their continued runs to greatness.

"Every year we lose a few players and we gain some," Lancers guard Korissa Williams said. "You've just got to adapt. You've got to be on the same page, no matter who comes in."

Vallee ensures that's the case, year after year, win after win.